The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1887-01-27
Poor. bvt Hon est


spectacle men, who have not accumulated
much of this worlds goods, that they
were poor. bat honest. !" The distinctive
conjunction would convey the impression
that poverty and honesty are not allied
to each other, as clearly as riches and hon
esty, for the remark is never heard that
certain men were rich, but honest. ~
Our observation teaches us that honesty
as a rule, is more frequently found am ong
those called poor than among those called
rich. There are dishonest methods
adopted to make gain, which do not,
in many cases, come under the condem-
nation of the letter Of the law, but which
are in violation Of good morals and an en-
lightened and sensitive conscience. It is
not necessary to recount them or partic-
ulariz re. But in general terms. when one
man takes advantage of the condition of an
other to extract from him more than fair
and just equivalent for the favor he ex-
tends, it is robbery, whether so recognized
by the statutes or not. The poor man is
always the victim, and when once the
clutches Of the sharper seize upon him.
he is pressed to the last dime that can be
squeezed from him, counting not the dis
tress it may cause him or those dependent
upon hi NJ. This over-reaching, either
from the cultivation of the talents in that
direction, or from the advantage that
worldly possessions may give, is dishon-
est-an adroit way of lilching and appro-
priating that which by no rule of right is
| his and the taking of which inllicts dis
comfort, if not distress upon others. But
the gains thus, gotten, frequently aggre-
eating into riches, are not brand of dis
honesty upon the man who secures them,
but rather are a mark of respect, in the
common acceptati0n of the term, and
bring to him flatterers and sycophants,
who worship at the shrine of MamInon.
whether the result of dishonest or honest
methods. Corporations, it is said, have no
| souls, but the men who run them are pre-
sumed to possess that article of our emo
tional anatomy and where corporate as
sociations exact more than is just and fair
|
robbing, and the men who conduct them
ought to be held responsible by communi-
ty, and will be In the final settlement of
their accounts.
A man may become honestly rich, too.
and he may remain poor and yet not be
honest. 1t is no guage Of character that
a man is either rich or poor. 1t is the
manner of his living and his dealing with
his fellow men. Sagacity in bu siness is
not always given TO those who possess
commanding talents, and the absence of
business tact cannot be taken to be the
evidence of honesty, nor the accumulation
Of wealth the assurance of unusual ability.
The fact that man has served in high
positions and yet remained poor is 30
more test of the honesty Of his sinten-
tions, than the knowledge that 9TH
ers of like prominence who may have
l gathered much of this worlds goods,
should be conclusive of their dishonesty.
Neither poverty nor riches can be made
the guage of honesty. It is a man s life
work, his ingoings and outcomings, in
community-his daily intercourse and
transactions with his fellow-men, and
whether or not he Is governed by the
golden rule to do unto others as he would
have others do unto him. That is the real
test of honesty-not whether he is poor or
rich. And it is the same test of genuine
respectablility-th "hest people and
| not the flash of gewgaws and the tinsel
of founce-arounds, and the hypocrite s
pretense that II am better than thou, =
because of the glare of ill-gotten gains,
or something that had been accom-
plished some time ago by somebody else
the boast of the potatoe top aristoeracy.
A Coupon Decision.
Edgar G.. Jones, a travelling salesman,
residing in Philadelphia, we think, in
March, 1886, rendered coupons in payment
of license tax to transact business in his
line in Virginia. The treasurer of the
city Of Richmond refused to receive them,
and also to give certificate that such ten
made affidavit to the effect that the ten
der had been made and presented it to the
Commissioner of Revenue for Richmond
and demanded of him therequired license,
which was refused. Under the law passed
March 4. 1886, the treasurer offered to re-
ceive the coupons for Identification. and
give the certificate upon the payment of
the license tax in money, or, if Jones did
not desire to Day the license tax in money,
to receive the coupons for Identification
and upon the certificate of the proper
court that the coupons had been verified.
then and not until then, to issue the IL
cense demanded. Jones demurred to this
and the court sustained the demurrer, dis
charged Jones, who haG been arrested for
selling goods without license. and then
the Commonwealth went to the Supreme
Court of the State On a writ of error. On
Thursday last Judge Richardson delivered
the unanimous opinion of the court to the
effect that the act Of 1885, to regulate the
granting of license, is constitutional, and
that no mere tender of coupons will au-
thorize any person to proceed with his
business without license.
The act of 1886 is similar to the act Of
1882, which was declared constitutional by
the Supreme Court of the United States
in Antoni VS.. Greenhow. That act does
not take from the coupon holder his reme-
dy. 1t merely prescribes mode for him
to use the coupons in payment of taxes,
and differs from the acts of 1884, which
absolutely denied the tax paying power of
the coupon. 1t was these acts of 1884
which were pronounced unconstitutional
by the Supreme Court in the case Of Roy
all against Virginia. In other words
| Judge Richardson, in preparing his opin-
| ion, evidently followed the ruling of the
United States Supreme Court in the case
of Antoni VS., Greenhow, in 1882. and lu-
cidly draws the distinction between the
two enactments in 1884, where the cou-
pom was absolutely denied, as tax-paying
agent, and that of 1885, similar to that of
1882, where the tax-paying power of the
coupon is recognized after it's genuiness
has been verified before the proper court.
Mr.. Royal, in card published in the
Richmond papers, advises the license tax
| payer not to he frightened by this deci-